


King of the Palisades

by orphan_account



Category: Saved By the Bell (TV)
Genre: Blood Drinking, Dubious Consent, F/M, Murder, Original Character(s), Secret Organizations, Time Shenanigans, Vampires, Weapons, Wingfic
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-03-13
Updated: 2020-03-17
Packaged: 2021-02-28 18:20:16
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,804
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23131585
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/orphan_account/pseuds/orphan_account
Summary: Something rotten is germinating in town and the same can be said for Bayside High. With the Bayside Gang's leader disappearing, two of its members missing and a new student with her own agenda forcing her way into the group, Lisa and her friends take it upon themselves to connect the dots and solve the mystery before their senior year ends. It won't be easy when her past with said leader rears its ugly head and becomes a monster of its own.
Relationships: Zack Morris/Lisa Turtle
Kudos: 9





	1. Chapter 1

“And that’s when Alan said ‘One day, Zack, you’re going to be talking to pigeons and drinking nothing but Pepsi while everyone you’ve put down leaves you coughing in their dust, including me!’ Come on, what’s he gonna do, sell pies and shortcakes on behalf of NASA?”

Screech fiddled with a small rubber ball laying around somewhere in Zack’s room. “I don’t know, Zack... Computers might be here to stay for a long time. If he’s even better with them than I am, then he’s definitely gonna have you bow down to him sooner or later. We’re no match for the cyborg overlords of the future!”

“Get real, simp,” scoffed Zack, snatching the ball from Screech’s hands only to start bouncing it on his gangly friend’s head. “Computers, robots, all that crap... They’re never gonna be able to do what a real man can. Trust me, I could buy a thousand Alans right now and consistently pay them just below minimum wage for about a week.”

“Yeah, with your dad’s money. Try opening an economics book, for one. Algebra, even.” Slater watched his friends argue about inconsequential things for the eightieth time this month. He figured that he might as well join in for the fiftieth time. “Actually, answer me this, Morris. What’s a cosine?”

Zack rolled his eyes. “I invite you two to my place to hang out and you gang up on me as thanks?”

“What’s a cosine?”

“Well, geez, I don’t know, the pole that keeps road signs up?”

The jock facepalmed hard, his frenemy’s idiocy being this close to giving him a tumor. “Oh my-- Screech, tell Preppie here what a cosine is.”

Zack’s bedroom was dead silent for the next few seconds before its owner burst out laughing, which most Palisades citizens agreed to be one of the worst sounds unique to their community. “I bet you don’t even know what a cosine is yourself! You’re still stuck on question nine, aren’t you, you dumb bastard?!”

Slater wasted no time leaping from the bean bag to Zack on the bed, trying to lock him in a fancy submission on an uneven surface. Had either him or Zack heard Screech yell that they were both dumb over all three of them shouting, they would have been digging a hole in the backyard by now. It was instead the horrible sound of the doorbell’s constant ringing that paralyzed them all.

“Get the door, Screech,” ordered Zack. “I’m stuck in a headlock here and I’m not about to let this meathead get away with it.”

“Why should I do that? It’s your house, Zack! You take responsibility.”

“Eugh. ‘You take responsibility.’ God, you sound like Jessie--” The blond’s sneering mug soon scrunched up and reddened as Slater tightened his grip on him.

“Watch it, Morris. One day, your sweet face isn’t gonna be able to catch up to your sharp tongue and I won’t be there to back you up.”

“I believe you, Slater. You’ll instead be there kicking my ass along with whoever I pissed off.” Both boys laughed while Screech fidgeted with his long fingers. “Now get off of me, big guy. I can feel your boner for Jessie on me.”

Zack soon found himself being flung from his bed to the bean bag, grunting on impact. “Chill out, freak! What makes you think I’m into her? She’s yours and I’ve always respected that!”

“What you said would have worked on me if it wasn’t for what you did to Screech.”

“Hey!” Zack blushed almost immediately, albeit partially out of his sudden rage. “Listen, you don’t understand what-- Wait, where is he anyway?”

Zack and Slater held their breath for a couple of seconds, trying to listen to what could be happening in the house. They darted to the main door after realizing that Screech was, well, screeching at someone. It turned out that he was this close to slapping a very young girl scout across the face with a bill of money.

“Just take my money, give me that donut and leave this place post-haste, you twisted little imp!”

“Cut it out, bird nest, or I’m calling the cops!”

Zack yanked Screech by the collar of his Hawaiian shirt and tossed him in Slater’s direction. Clearing his throat, he approached the girl with that winning smile of his. “Hey there, sweetie! What are you selling?”

“Donuts, mister,” chirped the spirited scout. “Two dollars for one. Your friend over there lost his cool because I didn’t have change for his five dollar bill. Is that okay?”

“Sure, no problem. In fact...” He snatched the bill from a still irate Screech’s hand and passed it to the girl. “Keep the change for your trouble.”

“Thanks, sir! You Morrises aren’t as bad as I thought, after all. Here, pick a box.”

Zack was about to ask why the donuts came in individual boxes when he felt his blood run cold upon looking in her eyes. They were a pale, icy blue, the irises contoured with what looked like scarlet red halos. He didn’t know why he wanted to scream, but he did. What scared him more than those eyes was the fact that he couldn’t scream.

“Too slow!”

He gasped, stumbling a few steps backward into the house. The girl was gone and a box was in his hand when he snapped back to reality. It was the same color as the halos in her eyes.

“What did I flipping tell you, Zack?! She’s a demon! A demon!”

Slater snorted. “I think it’s about time you quit watching those monster movies from the video store, Screech. Come on, Morris, let’s go back to your room and find something else to do.”

“...Yeah. Um...” Zack looked over his shoulder; his friends were impatiently waiting for him to make a move. They seemed more worried than annoyed, however. “I think we should split for now. I’ll see you guys on Monday, okay?”

The geek gulped. “Zack, you’re getting pale. Should I call your folks--”

“Look, just get the hell out of here, alright?!”

Zack briefly watched Screech struggle to pull a perturbed Slater out of the house before refocusing his attention to the donut box. He let his thumb run along the package’s grooved surface, the sensation making his spine tingle. Feeling a strange sense of pleasure from doing this, he repeated the motion over and over again, not even hesitating to lick the blood from the cut the box had given him before continuing his movements. He eventually gained just enough self-control to open the container, yet not enough to keep him from violently tossing the lid across the living room.

Hot tears stung his eyes as the pastry’s acrid smell assaulted him. In spite of his gagging, he couldn’t stop himself from devouring whatever the hell was inside the box. The tastes of dough, chocolate, cinnamon and blood swirled on his tongue; the latter darted out to sweep his messy, moist lips again and again.

His heart was pounding too quickly, too hard. Zack became lightheaded and excruciatingly thirsty. Even after drinking straight from the kitchen sink’s tap out of desperation, he was far from satiated. His eyes were still watery and his pulse rang once more in his ears. The blond was a loss for what to do next, but he knew that he couldn’t stay here like this. He didn’t know what he had done wrong, but he didn’t want to be caught in the middle of whatever was going on here. He ran into his room and screamed as soon as he saw a blurry silhouette inside.

“Zack? I-it’s me, Jessie! The guys said you were acting strange and-- Wait, what’s wrong with you?! No, stop! Stop! Back off!”

* * *

Zack ran and ran, stumbling but nevertheless running. He wasn’t sure where to, nor did he care. He felt an odd satisfaction from seeing the sun descend as the minutes flew by him. At this rate, he would almost be able to rid himself of the memory of gagging Jessie with a rubber ball, struggling to puncture her neck with his teeth alone and snapping it after drawing the strength and nourishment he needed from it. He didn’t remember hiding the body, but hoped that he at least thought of some clever way to cover up what he did.

A searing pain shot through his spine and limbs, leaving him crying and screaming for mercy in the middle of nowhere. The sensation of bones and muscles shifting in his back was too much to bear and his body shut down almost as soon as the process began, not even allowing him to go out with a single thought on his mind.


	2. Chapter 2

The harsh sound of metal being struck pierced through the morning silence, followed by impassioned swearing.

“Slater!”

Slater once again kicked the trashcan he just felled, nearly twisting his ankle doing so.

“Look, I get that you’re upset! We all are, but you’re only hurting yourself like this!”

“Oh, like all of this isn’t already hurting me?! Don’t freaking test me, Lisa. You try losing someone you love to some egocentric psycho who swore up and down that he was your best friend. Not that someone like you has someone to call a best friend. You’re lucky we didn’t ditch you, Zack and Screech back then!”

Lisa stepped up to Slater, her fists clenched. “You mean me and my _best friends._ You don’t think I miss Zack, too?”

The jock scoffed. “You really think I miss that rat? I wanted him dead the day he laid eyes on me. I never liked him.”

“Quit acting like he’s your archenemy. You two were like brothers and everybody knows it, even you!”

“He took Kelly from me.”

“She was never yours.”

“He always tried to one-up me in everything I did!”

“Zack was only seeking new experiences. You know how he is.”

Slater sighed. “Fair enough... Right? I guess talking shit about his best friend’s girl, killing her like a wild animal and running off scot-free is the next logical step to take after trying to hook up with some rude broad with a boyfriend on the other side of the country. Wait, no. I almost forgot about him trying to hook up with his other best friend’s crush, but you riding his dick like this sure brought those memories right back!”

Lisa was still in shock when Screech tried to defend her honor, only for him to get sucker punched by Slater. She tried to find something brutal, something vile enough to bring the grieving boy back to his senses, but couldn’t. He cut too deep and she feared that he was only getting warmed up.

“Hey, hey, hey! What is going on here?!”

As the trio expected after hearing those words, there came Mister Belding rushing to their location. They had nothing to say to him; by the way he looked at them, wiped his eyes and nodded his head, he seemed to understand this.

“What happened to Jessie was cruel and tragic, no doubt about it. But even so, I’m worried about Zack. It’s not like him to do something like this. He’s mischievous, not malicious. He’d never hurt someone the way he hurt her.”

“I know that, but why was her corpse-- I-I mean, why was she found in his bedroom? Why was there blood in the living room? Zack obviously did it, then,” stuttered Screech.

“I don’t... I don’t know, alright? It could be drugs, but I don’t see him going back on his word concerning what happened with Johnny Dakota long ago. I just feel so bad for his parents. They must be so confused... Disheartened, even, but hopefully not ashamed. We only know so much about what happened at this point in the investigation. Good grief, Zack...”

What would have been an awkward silence following Belding’s muttering was interrupted by several dull noises.

“Eat me, Belding!” A deep voice echoed throughout the Bayside High parking lot. “Your car already looked like buffalo shit, anyway! What’s a couple of eggs on top, huh?”

Belding babbled something about how Lisa, Slater and Screech should go back inside in time for first period before running after the person defacing his car. “You get back here, miss! I’ve had enough of your fooling around!”

The three other students looked at each other, amused. “Miss?”

“What an unfortunate looking miss,” said Lisa, shaking her head. “I don’t know what’s worse, her frizzy metalhead hair or her wearing leather on leather... on leather!”

“The hell kind of senior year is this so far? If she’s a girl, then call me Madonna,” murmured Slater.

“Come on, gang,” rasped Screech, still caressing his sore cheek. “Let’s get back inside...”

Although they laughed on their way into their school, it was a fleeting moment. Their present reality was too hard to just shake off like that, as hard as they tried to.

* * *

Faint yet abrasive music stirred Zack from his rest. He squinted his eyes, shut them and after taking a deep breath, opened them proper; yet, he couldn’t see much of anything. The strong smell of rubbing alcohol made him sniffle, then jolt up when he felt it drip down his back, inflaming his wounds.

“Wha-- Ow! Goddammit!”

Zack was thinking the same thing, but the words spoken at that moment weren’t his. “Who was that? Where am I?!”

“Take it easy, blondie,” drones a voice near his ear. “No, seriously. You just struck my nose with your wings.”

“Oh. Sorry-- Whoa, what? Hey! Did you say _my wings?_ ” Zack interrupted himself with a hiss; the alcohol was still acting on the wounds on his back.

“Yeah, your wings. That’s why your back hurt to the point of you passing out before I picked you up and brought you to one of our hideouts.”

“Look, could you just flip a switch or something? I need to make sense of what’s going on here.”

Zack felt a hand briefly rub his back and pat it before it pulled away, leaving him feeling somewhat colder. The footsteps he heard comforted him; even if this was indicative of his death in the next few minutes, he felt relieved to no longer be alone with his inner turmoil and confusion.

“You’re not afraid of me, Zack? You’re putting your faith in a total stranger here. One who’s touched you more intimately in the last few seconds than most girls you’ve been with... You don’t even know my name. You haven’t even seen my face. Yet, I know your name and I especially know what you’ve become.”

“I said flip the switch.”

“Make me, prissy boy.”

Zack sensed his wings flaring up to match his mood. “Turn on the goddamn light or I’ll make you wish you never found me.”

“Trust me when I say that I wish I didn’t have to. I’m a diligent person, though, so since no one wanted to do it...”

An orange light illuminated the room as hard as it could. Zack still couldn’t see much, but he could at least see his hands, his knees and the floor.

“...I had to take responsibility. Last week, I didn’t expect to have to be the one to retrieve and train the replacement to arguably the most powerful vampire in California, but I’m sure you didn’t expect to maul the girl who you trusted with your secrets since you were a child, neither.”

Zack would have laughed by now, but nothing that has happened over the last few days has made sense to him. “I’m so cold...”

No reply.

“Hold me.”

An odd noise of astonishment reverberated in the room. “I could just get you a blanket.”

“No. Hold me.”

“...You’re sweeter than I anticipated, but I still don’t like you. Look, call me Preston and I’ll keep you warm, okay?”

“Anything you want from me, Preston. Just tell me what’s going on with this whole... vampire thing.”

A pair of arms emerged from the darkness to hold Zack and the latter let himself fall into them, holding back tears as the pain in his back became a series of dull throbs.

“Relax, Zack... If it makes you feel any better, I’m the one who has to do anything you say. All of us do. As long as you don’t make an ass out of yourself, you’ll be fine.”

“I miss my friends. I bet they miss me, too.”

Preston released Zack from his embrace. “I doubt it, Prissy. So, do you want to know what’s going on or not?”

Even with the lack of proper lighting in the room, he could detect a ghost of a smile on the blond’s face.

“Kept us waiting long enough. I get it. Speak your truth, weirdo.”


End file.
